Heat your cooking fat in a wok/pan and add onion, garlic, ginger and chillis, stir fry for few seconds.

Then add tomatoes and spices, stir well.

Now add chicken and paste, cook for 1-2 minutes.

Cook covered with lid till the chicken is cooked through and the tomato skins end up in little "twists". Stir. Take lid off until the naturally occurring chicken/tomato stock reduces to a lovely saucy consistency via evaporation.

Garnish with fresh coriander.

Chicken karahi is typically served with hot chappati or naan bread, but it's also great just on its own, with smashed avocado, atop mashed sweet potato, riced cauliflower or with baked potatoes.

Karlie is a Sydney based primary school teacher passionate about nutrition, holistic cooking and urban foraging. She transformed her school canteen from one that sold frozen pastries, lollies, ice cream and even soft drinks to one that strictly sells wholesome meals made from only natural ingredients including those from the school's kitchen garden. Water is the only drink sold to students and all packaging used is plastic free, biodegradable and compostable.

In February 2016 I official graduated with the inaugural group of students, receiving my certificate personally from Cyndi O’Meara the founder of the Functional Nutrition Academy. If you are looking at doing this course yourself, or curious to know more about my experience, I have written up some of my insights.

This course has and will continue to be life changing for me. Not only is it an International Accredited, science meets natural approach, up-to-date Nutrition Course, but also included now is a Business Course plus ongoing conferences and learning opportunities.

​The community of amazing likeminded people you enter into is life changing enough! ​

Time taken

I reduced my workdays and put dedicated time aside each week for my study and completed it in just over 10 months. Honestly this is not a course you will just breeze through, and I would be disappointed if it was. My knowledge around nutrition and the workings of the human body has greatly deepened and I have thoroughly enjoyed my study time. When you have a passion for this area you dive in and embrace it.

Insights

The biggest thing I have come to appreciate is that you can find ‘evidence’ or interpret the analysis of the evidence to back-up ANY opinion. No wonder everyone is so confused about what is healthy and what is not!

​Knowledge is empowering!

​I was lucky enough to have a social studies teacher in high school that taught me to not believe blindly what I read and to question the agendas behind every article.

I really appreciate that this course has further developed my critical thinking, questioning and research ability.

Knowing about PubMed and how to navigate it is going to be very useful going forward. My referencing skills have been re-booted from my Uni days (over 17 years ago) and will be an asset.

​I loved that the exercises challenged us to write in a variety of styles and we could bring so much of own personal experiences to our assignments.

There are people from all walks of life doing the course, high percentage are female. Some students are just interested in learning more to help them find answers to their own health issues, or want to help a family member. Others are wanting to help their communities and turn their passion into a business or to complement an existing business.

Who is this course for?

There are people from all walks of life doing the course, high percentage are female at the moment.

Some students are just interested in learning more to help them find answers to their own health issues, or want to help a family member.

Others are wanting to help their communities and turn their passion into a business or to complement an existing business.

Is it a Paleo Course?

Yes I follow a Paleo type template of eating and I have been asked if this is a Paleo Course.

The course doesn't follow Paleo as such, but definitely lots of the same real food/food as medicine/culture and tradition principals. Having said that I got to use a lot of my own experiences in my assignments and gain a deeper knowledge of why Paleo is working well for me.

Plus I have gained a wider and deeper appreciation for more aspects of nutrition, other diets and wellness in general.

​I learned how to look up and critically review science-based articles, which has helped to answer questions for the general public when media articles come out with various things against Paleo.

For my future

This course has further concreted for me that the new path I’m on as a health mentor/coach and educator is my true path and needed more than ever by my community.

​The bonus business course has been put together by Jodie Nolan, another amazingly talented woman with a wealth of knowledge to share.

Is it in your future?

If you are interested in doing this course too you can request a lesson plan and course overview HERE.

CONTACT MEif you if you want open and honest answers from a student’s perspective to your questions. ​I'm happy to help.

Disclosure: I’m now an affiliate of the course, which believe me I wouldn’t do if I didn’t believe in it. I have had the opportunity to be an affiliate of another course and I declined because it wasn’t the value and experience I expected so I couldn’t honestly recommend it. This is an investment in your future and I will answer your questions honestly. By signing up via my affiliate link it doesn't cost you any more, it just means I receive a commission to help me to keep getting the wholefood nutrition message out to my community.

Thank you

I feel extremely honored to be in the first round of graduates from the Functional Nutrition Academy and wish to thank Cyndi O’Meara and all the team for this course. I hope you found this review helpful with your own future study decision.

​Thank you to Gwen and John Rudder from Sunshine Coast, Australia for sharing their real life story of how Gwen’s determination and finding Paleo has brought John back from Dementia.

“In early 2009 we sold up & started travelling around Australia. Six months into our travels I realised there was something amiss with my husband’s health.

​His short-term memory was getting really bad, but now it was his mid-term memory as well, he couldn’t remember 90% of our travels. He was also losing his ability to focus on anything and to pay attention to his surroundings.

After many GP, specialist and psychologist visits he was diagnosed with Dementia.

​I was told it would be beneficial to settle in one place instead of travelling and in early 2013 I purchased a house.

Eventually his licence was cancelled as his reflexes were really slow and he had lost his sense of distance and direction and backed into things and drove into ditches a couple of times. On occasions he couldn’t remember how to start the car.

He was put on antipsychotic drugs for his extremely violent outbursts. Anything different I wanted him to try seemed to aggravate him.

​He couldn’t handle money anymore, and couldn’t add up simple numbers. He was suspicious of everything I did.

I decided I needed to see what I could do towards improving his health and began researching dementia, and what areas of the brain are affected, and what the brain needs to function effectively. Hubby wouldn’t try anything I suggested at this stage.

Hubby’s health had deteriorated to the extent that he would just sit in front of the TV (mostly with his eyes closed, he would get angry if I tried to get him to do anything else or if I turned the TV off.

​He wouldn’t talk to anyone, he wouldn’t answer me if I asked him a question, he didn’t want to change his clothes or shave, wouldn’t acknowledge his children or grandchildren, had stopped reading and doing crossword puzzles, wouldn’t drink anything, and he wouldn’t leave the house, not even to sit outside. At times he couldn’t get himself out of his lounge chair.

My health was also deteriorating by this time and I decided I needed to take care of myself so I could look after him instead of putting him in an aged care facility. I was eating 80% Paleo then; however I was still cooking Hubby’s favourite foods for him at this time.​

In February 2015 my daughter and I attended Pete Evan’s Paleo Way Tour in Brisbane. I set the date to start for Friday 6th March as I had a wedding to attend on 4th. I decided this was the opportunity to change Hubby’s diet. He WAS going to eat paleo as that is what I was eating.

I started off by taking sugars and grains out of his diet, and increasing his good fats & I also slowly increasing his green leafy vegetables.

After 3 weeks the doctor and I decided to take him off his antipsychotic drug as he wasn’t getting aggressive anymore.

By 22nd June 2015 his GP had noticed positive changes in him and checked to see what he had changed medically – which he acknowledged was nothing.

​I told the doctor I had changed his diet and that I had cut out all grains, sugars and dairy, and that he was eating grass fed meats and wild caught fish with lots of vegies and good fats like coconut oil and immediately he was concerned about his cholesterol (hubby is on Lipitor). He was also concerned about the amount of green leafy vegies he was eating as he is on Warfarin and the vitamin K affects the warfarin uptake, and he had to increase the dosage. I suggested he do a fasting cholesterol test to check his cholesterol.

On 17th July 2015 the doctor was amazed at the difference in him and again checked his files to see what he had changed and realized that his medication hadn’t changed at all. His blood test showed that his cholesterol was up very high. However the doctor couldn’t believe that his bad cholesterol was down the lowest it has been and his good cholesterol levels were up really high.

The doctor suggested that I keep him on the Paleo diet as that is the only thing he can see that it making him well.

By September 2015 his dementia had improved so much that he goes to the shop and remembers what he has has to get, can handle money again, has joined the library and reads at least 3 books a week, he can remember things about our travels around Australia which he hadn’t remembered before.

John plays with the grandchildren all the time and loves having them around, he holds normal in depth conversations with everyone, and doesn’t lose his train of thought. John is taking an interest in things he likes to do again, doesn’t get angry any more, and is more considerate.

17th March 2016 was our final Geriatrician visit. John’s testing for Dementia shows that he is now back to where he was on his first visit 6 years ago! She also acknowledged that it was an amazing journey and told him to keep eating paleo. Best news of all is that she doesn't need to see him again!!!!

First time in 6 years he has no scheduled doctors visits. YES!!!!!

I don’t know what it was in his diet that was destroying him. I won’t ever know. He is staying on the paleo way of eating and he is happy to do so. It has made too much difference to our lives to change our way of eating.

If ever I need a reminder of why we are always going to eat this way I just look at my husband laughing and joking with our children and playing with our grandchildren.

I have my John back again!"

​The following is written by John himself, which in itself is amazing.

"I am a 73yr old Grandfather of 7 grandchildren. 3yrs ago I was diagnosed with Dementia. I was devastated. Lost my drivers licence & thought my life was maybe over. I pushed all the ones I loved away from me & started to withdraw. I am on medication for dementia.

Gwen decided to cook paleo for herself and she noticed her weight & her general wellbeing to improve so she introduced me to the Paleo Diet. After a while I also noticed an improvement in myself. I slowly came out of a fog.​I am now enjoying my children & grandchildren. I go for a walk everyday, I’ve joined the library & reading a lot. I don’t eat any processed food now all our food is prepared by Gwen, even coconut milk.

Is it the Paleo diet? I don’t know but my Dr said don’t change my diet because he has noticed a huge change in my demeanour & attitude to life in general.I can only be grateful to Gwen for putting me on this diet. It’s been years since I’ve felt this way.​It can only get better, I know my dementia will not be cured but with proper diet I am sure I will live a long healthy productive life. Yours John Rudder"

Marie Kamaldien from Perth, Western Australia shares her real life story of how Paleo and finally listening to her own body has helped her beat Anxiety and turned her health and moods around.

“I have been interested in Paleo for about a year now and have been following it since Pete Evans Workshop in Perth back in February 2015. Never did I ever think it would have such an impact in my life.

Ever since I can remember there has always been some sort of problem with my belly. Every morning my mum would give me a glass of milk (from Italian background, so my parents never ate breakfast) and I would struggle with it.

I always had anxiety and as I finished high school I started to develop Raynauds disease. I had no confidence in my specialist so decided to stop going to him and just deal with it. Also around this time I stopped eating pasta as it was giving me problems. I found I could still eat pizza and bread though so I continued that and just substituted rice for the pasta.

I would always shy away from protein foods (unless I made them myself) as for some reason I thought they would give me food poisoning and I would load up on wholemeal/grainy breads (thinking yep I'm super healthy), to help keep me full. I would eat bread, fresh bread, rotis, muffins etc and could never understand how people could drop all this food and still function.

Most of the time I felt weak, had no energy and suffered from poor concentration. I thought carbs was what I needed to function. I had low iron, but taking iron tablets didn’t make any difference.

I have also never been overweight. I am 153cm and always been between 42-45kgs. I would always be in the toilet though and would sometimes see the poo chart on the back of toilet doors and would think how can I ever get my poo to look like the healthy one? I eat so well. Fruit, veggies, margarine, low fat dairy (I would have lots of dairy), grainy breads or sourdough, some lean cuts of meat and minimal fat. I have always also been really fit, go the gym 3, 4 times a week and teach dance. Why isn't my poo resembling the healthy one in the chart?! I just didn't get it.

With all three of my pregnancies I only ever put on about 5kgs and had tiny little babies. When I had my second child, it all went pear shaped. I developed AntiC (an autoimmune blood condition where the body detects the baby as a foreign object and starts attacking it) and a year later I got thyroiditis.

I saw a specialist which tested me for celiac, which came back positive (I had no idea how the two were linked and was upset at the thought of possibly never having bread again). So I under went an endoscopy. This time the test for celiac came back fine so we celebrated by having pizza.

Through out all this I suffered from anxiety, low energy and just not feeling right. I would struggle to get up in the morning and was always at the Doctors as I was convinced I was dying of something or another or my kids were. It just wasn't the way I wanted to live.

I then fell pregnant with my 3rd child and the AntiC came back; this time more serious for my unborn baby and I had to be monitored closely. I found that when I ate pizza or bread I would now find it difficult to swallow, which scared the crap out of me.

But I kept eating wheat… even with Doctors now telling me I had a wheat sensitivity, even with me not getting my healthy poos, even with my body rejecting bread, the universe was trying to tell me and I still blindly went on my way!!

Then my mum got my sister-in-law and me tickets to Pete Evans ‘Learn To Cook The Paleo Way’ workshop. I thought, ‘are you serious?! As much as I would love to give up bread/carbs I thought I just couldn’t. But my mum was really excited so I decided I would go.

With two slices of fruit bread in my bag the one, from Bakers Delight with the cinnamon sugar on top (yep they told me it was super healthy), I sat there and listened and listened and listened. Something that stuck out for me was when Pete said it doesn't matter if it's white or grainy bread it's all sugar and it all does the same thing in your body (wow I thought really!! There goes the low GI theory I was following). I loved all the guest speakers and it all started to make sense.

I wanted to wake up in the morning and feel amazing, I wanted to not feel like crap anymore. I decided I wanted to give it a go.

So the next day I slowly cut out bread. It made me feel like crap the first few days until I started to increase my fats.

Increasing fat to lose weight or to be healthy was such a weird notion to me. But it worked, half an avo or some EVOO or coconut yogurt and it made me feel full.

It's been almost a year now and I had my bloods done a few weeks ago. I was told they were really good including my iron!! Such a happy moment!!

I'm no longer scared of protein and I load up on it now along with good fats and LOTS of veggies. I am getting more comfortable with different flavours and food and I can't believe how easy it is and how I don't miss bread anymore. I eventually gave up dairy a few months later and OMG!! Even a better difference!

I now feel amazing when I get up, even at 6am when my baby wakes up. I have so much energy even in the afternoon that I don't need to reach for the chocolate. I don't need bread to fill me up (and never ever want to eat it again knowing now what it did to me- bad bread!!) Plus, I finally got my healthy poos!!!!! Yay such a moment for me.

I don't have anxiety anymore AT ALL!! I never even knew it could be linked to gut issues. I am happy all the time!! I love life now; everything is so exciting and new that I sometimes feel like I could burst!! I am also leaner, more toned, dark circles under my eyes have gone, hair is thicker and healthier, skin has cleared up and I'm on my way to finally been able to have a 6pack (something I've always wanted but never been able to get).

Paleo and food as medicines is something I now feel so passionate about and definitely believe this is the way the world needs to go. Thank you for reading my story and happy new year. Paleo for life!! Marie."

Learn how to eliminate wheat from your diet one doable change at a time. Learn how to start healing your gut and rebalancing your hormones for better health, moods and sustainable weight loss here.